Monday, 17 January 2011
Friday, 14 January 2011
Sunday, 9 January 2011
A day at the Beach in Barcelona
Nina and I decided to walk to the water today and walk alongside the Mediterranean for our last day in Barcelona. In total, we walked for 6 hours today to and from our B&B. On our walk we came across a nice building in pink with white/cream design and just beyond it we saw two enormous eggs atop of a building. We wonder over to see what it was and it was the Palau de la Musica. The balcony railings look like they are made out of glass and each column is decorated in a stunning ceramic pattern. We peeked in through the windows and it looked fabulous.
From here we walked down another lane-way and came across Barcelona's Arc Triomf near a park. We sat here for a couple of minutes to watch families walk or bike by, watched people running or in-line skating.
After this we carried on to Barceloneta which is where the beaches and ports are located. We stopped for a quick lunch, chorizo on fresh baguette. Apparently, Nina can't get enough of pork. :-) We walked down to the beach, alongside the beach on the boardwalk and we even felt the water, which wasn't too bad, but not warm enough to go swimming. Although some crazy fools were in the water. It was 18 degrees celsius while we down at the beach and some people were wearing winter coats. Nina and I were carrying our jackets.
We stopped at shoe store on our way back and I tried on some boots, but I didn't buy any, although I was practically stuck in the one boot. The zipper got stuck and the saleswoman struggled and fought with the zipper down to a certain point and finally pulled the boot off my foot. I felt so bad and I looked at Nina and said, "now they hate me". We left there rather quickly after that.
We walked back up La Rambla and returned to our room. We packed up our measly belongings in our one bag and planned to eat supper at Cafe Adonis for our last night. We even had a free drink coupon from our B&B. Turns out it was closed. We walked up the road and found a bar/restaurant and ordered a pitcher of sangria and pizza. The sangria is so much better than the one Vicki and I ordered in Essaoiura. Nina said it was excellent and is sad to only have tried it on our last night in Spain. We couldn't taste the wine in it. Yummy!
Tomorrow we return to Canada. A lot of things have happened in the last three weeks and I have been to many different spots from a snowy winter-land, to rainy Fez, the Sahara desert, over the mountains, stayed in the mountains, to a sea-side town, crazy Marrakech and finally, Spain with it's beautiful architecture and easy metros. I wonder what awaits for me back in Ottawa.
Saturday, 8 January 2011
Parc Guell
I took more Imodium pills this morning and it seems to be working, although I still experience cramps and my tummy still grumbles. I call it "A Storm is Brewing in my Tummy". It makes that kind of noise. Nina is feeling better today.
We decided to visit Parc Guell today, which was bought in 1900 by Eusebi Guell. He hired Antoni Gaudi to create a place of houses for the wealthy, however, the project flopped and was abandoned in 1914 after Gaudi created roads, walkways, two gate houses that are called/look like Hansal & Gretel houses (Nina calls them gingerbread houses - see one of the pictures), bridges, and the famous tiled curving bench.
To get to the park, we walked up a steep hill and certain sections of it had escalators. The hill reminded us of the steep roads/hills in San Francisco. Once we made it to the park, we took our time walking through it and enjoyed the warm sun on our faces and arms. We sat on the Banc de Trencadis (the tiled curving bench) for some time and watched people come and go. Strangers asked Nina to take their picture for them, this had to be the 4th time since we've arrived in Spain. Nina finds it funny they come to her because she doesn't like taking photos and according to her, she takes bad pictures.
After visiting the park we took at metro to Catalunya near La Rambla and searched for Cafe Viena. Nina read in a French article and according to the New York Times Cafe Viena's Iberian ham baguette sandwich is the best. The author of the NY Times article said it was the best sandwich he ever had. Sadly, the author is missing out on great sandwiches or hasn't had many in his lifetime. Nina says, "It was good, but not the best I ever had." she liked the baguette. I didn't think much of the sandwich, it tasted like other regular iberian sandwiches from other restaurants. It was overpriced (6.45 Euros for one sandwich) compared to other places, probably because of it's fame. I still prefer my 1.00 Euro sandwich at the Museo de Jamon in Madrid and the mini baguette sandwiches from the bakery across the street from the B&B.
After our sandwiches we walked along La Rambla and saw more performing artists including one on the toilet, which had special meaning to Nina and I. We were in search of two other food places from Nina's article, one of them was called Papabubble www.papabubble.com and they make assorted hard candy. We watched them roll out a big mound of sugar that is white/pale yellow on the outside and white, red and green in the middle. The one man would stretch out the mound and cut off a piece and passed it to his co-worker, who rolled it out in long sticks. I looked at the end of the long stick and the red and green colours turned into a red apple with a green leaf in the centre. It was so neat!
We wondered around after Papabubble and went into some shops and walked down lane-ways/side streets near the waterfront. I tried a different ice cream flavour today, but I can't remember the name of it. It was a mixture of flavours and I didn't know what flavour I was getting next - coconut, cinnamon, chocolate. I really wished I knew what was in it. The ice cream isn't anything extraordinary here in Barcelona (so far, I haven't had an amazing flavour), however, it is everywhere. My family could easily put a dent in the ice cream here.
We decided to visit Parc Guell today, which was bought in 1900 by Eusebi Guell. He hired Antoni Gaudi to create a place of houses for the wealthy, however, the project flopped and was abandoned in 1914 after Gaudi created roads, walkways, two gate houses that are called/look like Hansal & Gretel houses (Nina calls them gingerbread houses - see one of the pictures), bridges, and the famous tiled curving bench.
To get to the park, we walked up a steep hill and certain sections of it had escalators. The hill reminded us of the steep roads/hills in San Francisco. Once we made it to the park, we took our time walking through it and enjoyed the warm sun on our faces and arms. We sat on the Banc de Trencadis (the tiled curving bench) for some time and watched people come and go. Strangers asked Nina to take their picture for them, this had to be the 4th time since we've arrived in Spain. Nina finds it funny they come to her because she doesn't like taking photos and according to her, she takes bad pictures.
After visiting the park we took at metro to Catalunya near La Rambla and searched for Cafe Viena. Nina read in a French article and according to the New York Times Cafe Viena's Iberian ham baguette sandwich is the best. The author of the NY Times article said it was the best sandwich he ever had. Sadly, the author is missing out on great sandwiches or hasn't had many in his lifetime. Nina says, "It was good, but not the best I ever had." she liked the baguette. I didn't think much of the sandwich, it tasted like other regular iberian sandwiches from other restaurants. It was overpriced (6.45 Euros for one sandwich) compared to other places, probably because of it's fame. I still prefer my 1.00 Euro sandwich at the Museo de Jamon in Madrid and the mini baguette sandwiches from the bakery across the street from the B&B.
After our sandwiches we walked along La Rambla and saw more performing artists including one on the toilet, which had special meaning to Nina and I. We were in search of two other food places from Nina's article, one of them was called Papabubble www.papabubble.com and they make assorted hard candy. We watched them roll out a big mound of sugar that is white/pale yellow on the outside and white, red and green in the middle. The one man would stretch out the mound and cut off a piece and passed it to his co-worker, who rolled it out in long sticks. I looked at the end of the long stick and the red and green colours turned into a red apple with a green leaf in the centre. It was so neat!
We wondered around after Papabubble and went into some shops and walked down lane-ways/side streets near the waterfront. I tried a different ice cream flavour today, but I can't remember the name of it. It was a mixture of flavours and I didn't know what flavour I was getting next - coconut, cinnamon, chocolate. I really wished I knew what was in it. The ice cream isn't anything extraordinary here in Barcelona (so far, I haven't had an amazing flavour), however, it is everywhere. My family could easily put a dent in the ice cream here.
Friday, 7 January 2011
Take a Walk on La Rambla
Nina and I walked and walked today. First we walked over to La Sagrada Familia and went to the gift shop, which was a little disappointing as it was very small. From here we walked along Avinguda de Diagonal and admired apartment buildings and their window shutters in different
colours and their balconies ranging from petite ones that can only hold plants, to bigger ones with a cafe table and much bigger ones with awnings. The balconies are either rectangular, cute semi-circles or topsy-wavy ones with fancy metal (a Gaudi building).
We finally broke down and went to a pharmacy and bought Imodium. I hope it works. After our visit to the pharmacy, we walked down Garcia street and saw where the rich shop. As we walked by Yves Saint Laurent, Gucci, Salvatore Ferragamo, Louis Vuitton, Burberry, etc, Nina said to me "these people have bags of Gucci or Burberry and I have a bag of Imodium". It provided us with a good laugh. People were lined up outside of Gucci and the security guard only let a few people
in at a time. I hope the had good sales today. We went to shoe stores and looked at boots. The Spanish have amazing boots here. Even the little kids wear fantastic leather boots. I'm so envious of the kids and their footwear. I tried on a pair of boots at Camper but they didn't fit right. Nina tried on some shoes but they didn't fit well either.
We saw two different works by Gaudi today. The first one we saw is called the La Pedrera on Garcia street. The balconies are stunning with it's curves and different dimensions and fabulous metal work. The second one we saw on the same street is called Casa Batilo, which has blue, green, and mauve tiles and curvy window frames and balconies.
We walked down La Rambla and it was packed with people as was Garcia street due to the sales starting today. It's similar to Canada's Boxing Day sales. La Rambla has mimes and people dressed up in costumes (see one of the pictures) and some try to scare people as they go by, well these two sure did. Some kids were scared to walk by them.
We walked by ice cream place after ice cream place. I tried one called Torrones and it was lackluster. We also went to the Mercat Boqueria, which is a market selling fresh fish, meat, fruit, and candy and has small places to order a drink alongside your tapas.
Finally, we decided to walk back to our B&B and went to the store for water and coca light, and the bakery across the street for a sandwich. Now we are relaxing.
Thursday, 6 January 2011
Celebrating my Birthday in Barcelona
This morning we still woke up with gut wrenching pain and we had many trips to the bathroom. Yippee another day of pain. Our B&B provides a continental breakfast with yogurt (1st one since Paris) and bananas (1st one since Saturday) and other delightful pastries.
After breakfast we walked to Gaudi's La Sagrada FamÃlia. It's breathtaking! Gaudi is a true mastermind when it comes to architecture and design. It has enough seats for a 1,000 person choir and the use of light and space inside is spectacular. Nina says the inside of the church is ethereal. I have more pictures on my camera and it's hard to capture what you see with the human eye. Every time I looked up or around I saw something different such as a turtle at the bottom of an exterior column or fruit on top of a spire.
Gaudi is a true mastermind/artist when it comes to architecture and design. It has enough seats for a 1,000 person choir and the use of light and space inside is spectacular. Nina says the inside of the church is ethereal. I have more pictures on my camera and it's hard to capture what you see with the human eye. Every time I looked up or around I saw something new.
Unfortunately, we missed the gift shops because it closed at 2:00 pm. :-(
After visiting the church, we ate lunch at Farggi, which was sandwiches and ice cream for dessert. Nina really enjoyed her strawberry cheesecake ice cream. It was the best she ever had and it was creamy. I had chocolate coconut pistachio flavoured ice cream. Yes, it was one scoop and it was combined. It was a pleasant blend that that would surprise you with each lick - once a mixture of all three flavours and other time each distinct flavoured could be tasted.
After lunch we walked up Avinguda de Diagonal to see Casa de Les Punxes (House of Spikes), is an apartment block with turrets and stunning balconies. According to Lonely Planet it looks like a fairy-tale castle and it does. It definitely has a romantic feel to it.
Next we walked to Casa & Comalat, built in 1911 by Salvador Valeri. One can immediately tell that Valeri was influenced by Gaudi with it's wavy roof, whimsical framing around the windows and and tile work.
We returned to Casa Dover after viewing stunning architecture and a gigantic pasta statue. We relaxed, drank some mint tea, laid in fetal positions on our beds and mad frequent trips to the bathroom.
Eventually, I got hungry and told Nina to get up and let's go. We went to Cafe Adonis. It truly is a great little spot and I wished my neighbourhood had something similar. I told Nina I was having beer and I was ordering steak and veggies. She was worried what the dinner and wine would do to her intestines. I replied, I can't see how it would be any worse than now and it's my birthday and I'm going big, which means a small piece of steak (I finished Nina's steak, too), small, skinny fries and veggies. I definitely could have eaten more steak and veggies. It was probably the first true red meat I have had since Ottawa. Nina had two glasses of wine while I had three glasses (not pint size -smaller) of beer. I had ice cream (one scoop each of lemon, chocolate, and vanilla) for dessert and Nina had a warmed brownie with ice cream.
Now it's way past our bed-time and according to Nina, my birthday is over to which I replied, "not in Canada". :-) I got one of her famous eye-rolls.
Wednesday, 5 January 2011
Nina and Trixie Arrive in Barcelona
After spending a horrible gut wrenching day and evening in bed, we woke up with similar symptoms and shared our crazy dreams from last night. In one of my dreams, a "little person" Viking man with a long red-haired braid, stopped in at my parents' place and asked to look around and the next thing my mom knew he and his family were moving in. Another dream of mine was Nina and I eating chicken or chicken wings and I kept getting mad at her for wasting good meat. She was taking a measly bite and would put the rest on a plate. I also dreamt that Nina and I walked into my sister Shelley's apartment (her door was wide open) and I was ecstatic because she had air conditioning and it felt so wonderful. Later on I thought I had a fever and Nina said it would explain that dream.
We packed up stuff and left in the Hostal Dulcinea's office while we went for breakfast. We ate breakfast at a place called Vips, which Nina calls a Chapters/restaurant/convenience store. It was our first real meal in over 24 hours. The toast and eggs tasted good. The tea felt like liquid gold, not that I have ever tasted liquid gold, but it was divine.
After breakfast we crossed the street and visited the Museo del Prado. Much to Nina's dismay (not mine, been there - done that and she already saw Renoir in Ottawa) we couldn't get to tickets for the Renoir exhibit because the next showing was at 12:30, which is when we head to the airport. I did see Velazquez's "Las Meninas" and it so much bigger than I had pictured from Art History class. We also saw works by Goya and Rubens. I felt pretty bad during the visit so my heart wasn't fully in like it usually is and although I did admire the craft and beautiful colours used in the various paintings.
We flew with SpainAir from Madrid to Barcelona and we each paid 5.05 Euros for a shuttle bus from the airport to the city centre. The city centre was packed with people waiting for the appearance of the parade and the arrival of the 3 Kings. Tomorrow is a national holiday in Spain for their Christmas celebration. I would have liked to have seen the parade but not with all our stuff.
We took two metros and walked to our hotel and remembered we needed to call Cristian, Casa Dover's hotel manager. I called him and he said he was picking up his bike and would be here in 15 minutes. I told him we would wait in Cafe Adonis, a bar below our hotel. It's very charming and has a great vibe. One of the two male waiters came over and took our order for tea. Nina started saying, "please let Cristian be old and ugly. Please let him be an old, ugly man who rides a motorcycle". In walks a very good looking guy (reminded me of Brian Joubert) wearing a leather jacket and carrying a helmet. I looked at Nina and said, "Cristian". She said, "noooooo". Sure enough the guy came over and introduced himself as Cristian. Ha ha Nina! He seems friendly. Casa Dover has 7 rooms and two common areas (living room and kitchen) and is the nicest place we have stayed at in the last 2 1/2 weeks. Cristian said the parade was going on but he never said where it was happening in relation to our hotel.
I did visit the bakery across the street and bought 4 of the smallest pain au chocolates we have ever seen. 4 of them didn't even equal one regular size pain au chocolate. I also bought 2 tiny baguette sandwiches and one little bun sandwich. I also bought a sugared donut filled with a custard. Nina says it was a really good donut.
We will explore the city tomorrow.
We packed up stuff and left in the Hostal Dulcinea's office while we went for breakfast. We ate breakfast at a place called Vips, which Nina calls a Chapters/restaurant/convenience store. It was our first real meal in over 24 hours. The toast and eggs tasted good. The tea felt like liquid gold, not that I have ever tasted liquid gold, but it was divine.
After breakfast we crossed the street and visited the Museo del Prado. Much to Nina's dismay (not mine, been there - done that and she already saw Renoir in Ottawa) we couldn't get to tickets for the Renoir exhibit because the next showing was at 12:30, which is when we head to the airport. I did see Velazquez's "Las Meninas" and it so much bigger than I had pictured from Art History class. We also saw works by Goya and Rubens. I felt pretty bad during the visit so my heart wasn't fully in like it usually is and although I did admire the craft and beautiful colours used in the various paintings.
We flew with SpainAir from Madrid to Barcelona and we each paid 5.05 Euros for a shuttle bus from the airport to the city centre. The city centre was packed with people waiting for the appearance of the parade and the arrival of the 3 Kings. Tomorrow is a national holiday in Spain for their Christmas celebration. I would have liked to have seen the parade but not with all our stuff.
We took two metros and walked to our hotel and remembered we needed to call Cristian, Casa Dover's hotel manager. I called him and he said he was picking up his bike and would be here in 15 minutes. I told him we would wait in Cafe Adonis, a bar below our hotel. It's very charming and has a great vibe. One of the two male waiters came over and took our order for tea. Nina started saying, "please let Cristian be old and ugly. Please let him be an old, ugly man who rides a motorcycle". In walks a very good looking guy (reminded me of Brian Joubert) wearing a leather jacket and carrying a helmet. I looked at Nina and said, "Cristian". She said, "noooooo". Sure enough the guy came over and introduced himself as Cristian. Ha ha Nina! He seems friendly. Casa Dover has 7 rooms and two common areas (living room and kitchen) and is the nicest place we have stayed at in the last 2 1/2 weeks. Cristian said the parade was going on but he never said where it was happening in relation to our hotel.
I did visit the bakery across the street and bought 4 of the smallest pain au chocolates we have ever seen. 4 of them didn't even equal one regular size pain au chocolate. I also bought 2 tiny baguette sandwiches and one little bun sandwich. I also bought a sugared donut filled with a custard. Nina says it was a really good donut.
We will explore the city tomorrow.
Tuesday, 4 January 2011
Misery in Madrid
Today was spent in bed or in the washroom. It started at 4:00 am this morning with stomach cramps and a visit to the washroom. We took turns running to the bathroom throughout the day followed by collapsing in bed and trying to sleep. I had chills then sweating this morning and Nina didn't have those symptoms. We each took my last Gravol at 6:00 am and I think it helped some. At some point today I went to a nearby store and bought us Powerade and digestive cookies/crackers. Nina and I were thinking it was our 10:00pm meal last night and maybe the meat wasn't cooked all the way because it appeared they were closing soon, but Pam commented on my Facebook status and said she and Vicki didn't feel well yesterday. So maybe we have some weird flu bug.
Nina and I are glad this didn't happen in Morocco with their minuscule rolls of toilet paper or on a travel day. That would be another horror story altogether. We are watching TV and trying to muster up the energy to find some toast or rice nearby.
We'll try and see the Museo del Prado tomorrow morning before we leave for Barcelona.
Monday, 3 January 2011
Museo del Jamon - Home of the Pork
We checked out the stores that had sales and thought of little Pam. Nina says, "eat your heart out, Pam". Nina bought a brown leather purse for $40.00 CAD. I bought a small grey purse (feels like suede but I doubt it is) for $9.00 CAD and a green small carry-on over the shoulder bag for $13.00 CAD. My poor little backpack is busting at the seams.
Now we're relaxing in our room and waiting to eat supper around 10:00 pm. A lot of restaurants are closed until then.
Tomorrow we are going to visit the Museo del Prado and Museo Thyssen Bornemisza.
Churros and the Palacio Real
This morning after Nina finally woke up from sleeping 11 hours, we took the metro to the Opera stop near the Plaza Mayor square. We found Chocolatera San Gines and ordered chocolate churros for breakfast. The churros are long stripped donut-type pastries and are dipped in the cup which is similar to hot chocolate and hot fudge. Sitting across from Nina and watching her face while she ate it was interesting. Instead of just enjoying it, she analyzed the entire thing and said either the chocolate needs to be sweeter or the churros need to be sweeter. I disagree, it's Trixie Approved!!!
After our churros we walked to the Palacio Real and waited in line for tickets. We spent a couple of hours at the palace and discovered that Spain's royal family does not live in the palace. We started with the armoury first, the poor horses. How could the horses withhold the armour on them plus the soldier and their armour? At least the soldiers were small back then. The metal work on the armour and shields varied from plan to elaborate detail including a Medusa head. After the armoury, we visited the painting rooms containing works by various artists and were mostly religious.
Next we were blown by the official palace rooms. One room was called the porcelain room because everything - the walls, ceilings, ornamentation, were made out of porcelain. Another room was done in rococo style had marble crown molding and marble door frames. The dining room had 12 chandeliers and was gigantic. The palace and from what we could see is beyond ostentatious. Every room except for the pool table room has at least one enormous chandelier.
The palace even has an old pharmacy with porcelain jars labelled with the names of various herbs and medicines. The pharmacy even contains and old lab with big pestle and mortar bowls.
Next we walked and went into a couple shops as we made our back to the Opera metro stop.
Sunday, 2 January 2011
Marrakech Hustle
Our group left the peaceful sea-side town of Essaouira for noisy, smog-filled Marrakech on New Year's Eve day. We arrived in the evening and decided to go somewhere close by for dinner that was cheap as most restaurants had New Year's Eve menus starting at 600 MAD. We went to a place called Winoo and it was full of locals. Most of the girls ordered pizzas and I ordered a salad and the Winoo Plus drink, which was yogurt, a mixture of fruit and kiwis and topped with almonds. It was smooth and so full of flavour. Yummy! While we were waiting for our food, Alanna and Vicki took off to a nearby patisserie shop and bought a box full of goodies.
We returned to our hotel after supper and went to the hotel bar and drank beer/wine and tasted the patisseries. We also watched French programs and Arabic music videos, which was fun because we made up stories to the videos. I went to bed around 10:30.
I didn't sleep well that night as my roommate returned to the room just as I was falling asleep and I had to get up to let her in as we were only given one key for the room. She went back out and I heard her return around 1:00am when she was trying to get the lights to come on. We finally got te lights on and I went back to bed to be woken up at 3:30 because the couple next door was having a lovers quarrel or something. The woman was balling her eyes out and yelling at the guy and he was yelling at her. Doors were opening and slamming shut. My roommate was concerned for the woman and I told her to call the front desk and she did call and said the neighbours were making a lot of noise and woke us up. We discovered yesterday morning that she gave the wrong room number to the front desk. We fell back asleep to be awoken at 5:30 in the morning to the guy banging on his room door and yelling at his girlfriend to let him in. My roommate and I both looked at our clocks and I looked at her and said "welcome to Marrakech".
Yesterday, we walked to the Majorelle Gardens and visited Yves Saint Laurent's memorial. It is nice and peaceful there compared to the noise and honking of the city.
After the gardens we visited the medina and we played Frogger with our lives to get to the medina. If there are street lights or walking lights, they are only one the one side of the street so you never know if you can go. Even if you the walk light, motor bikes and cars still go through so you walk/run across the streets. It's insane and nobody drives in one lane only, some cars are in two lanes or two cars are in one lane at a time.
We did a little more shopping in the medina and high-tailed out of there around lunchtime to go eat and just to get away from the haggling and crowded lanes in the medinas where bicycles and motor bikes are whizzing by on all sides on the laneway.
Last night, our group met up in the Place Djemaa el-Fna for our last meal together. There are so many food stalls and each have their own number and serve different types of meals. Our last meal included chicken, beef, and vegetable brochettes, fries, salad, cous cous with vegetables, eggplant and green peppers (?), tomato dish to dip your bread in and calamari. I'm probably missing some dishes, but that's all I can think of at the moment. Some of the group appeared to be weary, and tired. The medina, square, traffic and noise of Marrakech would do that to anyone. We said good-bye to the rest of the people in our group and wished them safe travels.
After supper I went to a nearby ice cream place and had 2 scoops, one of fig and the other of avocado. The avocado was interesting because it tasted like a ripe avocado that you scoop out of the shell but it was creamier and smooth. Its not a flavour you ever consider. I tried Nina's cinnamon flavoured ice cream and that had to be the best cinnamon ice cream I have ever tasted.
Once we finished our ice cream, we head across the lane two light stores. I helped Nina negotiate with a light fixture that is white/clear and pale blue glass to go above her dining room table. It's very pretty. I helped Alanna negotiate for a two-tiered upside down wedding cake (at least that's what it looks like) light fixture to go above her dining room table.
One of the men there told me I bargain like a Berber, which isn't really a compliment and it wasn't the first time I heard that comment. Berbers want the item for practically nothing. The man told man told me he was a Berber and joked with me. He even held out a bag and told me to get in it. I really enjoyed bargaining the last couple of days and some of the men seemed or act insulted with my prices but they still end up selling the item to me, so I guess they can't be too insulted. Vicki and Pam also bought light fixtures for their new places. I can't wait to see everyone's lights in their homes.
Once the lamps were bought, we returned to the hotel, packed and said good-bye to our tour guide. I said good-bye to Alanna, Pam and Vicki as they left very early this morning.
Once again, my roommate and I were awoken at 3:00 in the morning from the crazy couple next door. There had to be at least 4 people in the room talking very loud and opening and slamming doors. I'm so happy to be away from them.
Nina and I took a taxi to the airport, flew to Madrid, took 3 metros (very fast and easy), walked as per the instructions of our hostal, realized the instructions were wrong and we were in the wrong direction, finally, hailed a taxi and we arrived safely to our hostal.
We ate a place called Lizzaron and ate a couple of tapas/appetizers and had a ham and rice soup. The soup smelled good but was very salty. We walked around the neighbourhood after supper and returned to our room. Our room is quaint and clean. Nina's happy that it has a hair dryer.
Tomorrow we plan to visit the Palacio Real and the Plaza Mayor. We also want to try Madrid's 'Churro' - a donut like strip that is dunked in hot chocolate. We read that it's the 'must' thing to try here. Stay tuned.
Vicki and Pam have our bags in Casablanca and are taking them back to Ottawa. At least we know where they are and they are going home.
We returned to our hotel after supper and went to the hotel bar and drank beer/wine and tasted the patisseries. We also watched French programs and Arabic music videos, which was fun because we made up stories to the videos. I went to bed around 10:30.
I didn't sleep well that night as my roommate returned to the room just as I was falling asleep and I had to get up to let her in as we were only given one key for the room. She went back out and I heard her return around 1:00am when she was trying to get the lights to come on. We finally got te lights on and I went back to bed to be woken up at 3:30 because the couple next door was having a lovers quarrel or something. The woman was balling her eyes out and yelling at the guy and he was yelling at her. Doors were opening and slamming shut. My roommate was concerned for the woman and I told her to call the front desk and she did call and said the neighbours were making a lot of noise and woke us up. We discovered yesterday morning that she gave the wrong room number to the front desk. We fell back asleep to be awoken at 5:30 in the morning to the guy banging on his room door and yelling at his girlfriend to let him in. My roommate and I both looked at our clocks and I looked at her and said "welcome to Marrakech".
Yesterday, we walked to the Majorelle Gardens and visited Yves Saint Laurent's memorial. It is nice and peaceful there compared to the noise and honking of the city.
After the gardens we visited the medina and we played Frogger with our lives to get to the medina. If there are street lights or walking lights, they are only one the one side of the street so you never know if you can go. Even if you the walk light, motor bikes and cars still go through so you walk/run across the streets. It's insane and nobody drives in one lane only, some cars are in two lanes or two cars are in one lane at a time.
We did a little more shopping in the medina and high-tailed out of there around lunchtime to go eat and just to get away from the haggling and crowded lanes in the medinas where bicycles and motor bikes are whizzing by on all sides on the laneway.
Last night, our group met up in the Place Djemaa el-Fna for our last meal together. There are so many food stalls and each have their own number and serve different types of meals. Our last meal included chicken, beef, and vegetable brochettes, fries, salad, cous cous with vegetables, eggplant and green peppers (?), tomato dish to dip your bread in and calamari. I'm probably missing some dishes, but that's all I can think of at the moment. Some of the group appeared to be weary, and tired. The medina, square, traffic and noise of Marrakech would do that to anyone. We said good-bye to the rest of the people in our group and wished them safe travels.
Once we finished our ice cream, we head across the lane two light stores. I helped Nina negotiate with a light fixture that is white/clear and pale blue glass to go above her dining room table. It's very pretty. I helped Alanna negotiate for a two-tiered upside down wedding cake (at least that's what it looks like) light fixture to go above her dining room table.
One of the men there told me I bargain like a Berber, which isn't really a compliment and it wasn't the first time I heard that comment. Berbers want the item for practically nothing. The man told man told me he was a Berber and joked with me. He even held out a bag and told me to get in it. I really enjoyed bargaining the last couple of days and some of the men seemed or act insulted with my prices but they still end up selling the item to me, so I guess they can't be too insulted. Vicki and Pam also bought light fixtures for their new places. I can't wait to see everyone's lights in their homes.
Once the lamps were bought, we returned to the hotel, packed and said good-bye to our tour guide. I said good-bye to Alanna, Pam and Vicki as they left very early this morning.
Once again, my roommate and I were awoken at 3:00 in the morning from the crazy couple next door. There had to be at least 4 people in the room talking very loud and opening and slamming doors. I'm so happy to be away from them.
Nina and I took a taxi to the airport, flew to Madrid, took 3 metros (very fast and easy), walked as per the instructions of our hostal, realized the instructions were wrong and we were in the wrong direction, finally, hailed a taxi and we arrived safely to our hostal.
We ate a place called Lizzaron and ate a couple of tapas/appetizers and had a ham and rice soup. The soup smelled good but was very salty. We walked around the neighbourhood after supper and returned to our room. Our room is quaint and clean. Nina's happy that it has a hair dryer.
Tomorrow we plan to visit the Palacio Real and the Plaza Mayor. We also want to try Madrid's 'Churro' - a donut like strip that is dunked in hot chocolate. We read that it's the 'must' thing to try here. Stay tuned.
Vicki and Pam have our bags in Casablanca and are taking them back to Ottawa. At least we know where they are and they are going home.
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